{"id":3557,"date":"2011-08-21T08:39:32","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T15:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3557"},"modified":"2011-08-21T08:39:32","modified_gmt":"2011-08-21T15:39:32","slug":"the-jolly-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/the-jolly-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"THE JOLLY BOYS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

THE JOLLY BOYS<\/h1>\n

Melding a unique traditional folk style with unexpected new elements<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trends come and go, but the\u00a0Jolly Boys have been playing mento music\u2014a Jamaican folk style that was a major influence on reggae and ska\u2014for nearly 60 years. The veteran band extends and expands that tradition on Great Expectation<\/em>, a new collection that trades its usual fare for mento interpretations of songs by the likes of Amy Winehouse, the Clash, Johnny Cash, the Doors and others. \u201cIt\u2019s like a dream come true,\u201d says singer and founding member Albert Minott, 73.<\/p>\n

Various incarnations of the Jolly Boys have played for decades in Port Antonio, Jamaica, performing often in hotels\u2014where they became favorites of Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack pals during their visits to the country. In recent years the Boys have been regulars at Geejam Studios, a residential recording studio and resort hotel. That\u2019s where studio founder and former Island label executive Jon Baker fell in love with mento. \u201cThis music talked about politics, rum addiction, sex,\u201d Baker says. \u201cI saw this music was very similar to rock \u2019n\u2019 roll.\u201d<\/p>\n

While watching the Jolly Boys perform in the bar at the Geejam Hotel, Baker also recognized that he didn\u2019t have forever to capture the aging group on record. \u201cI realized that three of the faces I had known around the \u2019hood weren\u2019t there anymore,\u201d he says. So he teamed with Jolly Boys percussionist Dale Virgo to produce Great Expectation<\/em>, choosing songs they thought could help introduce mento to a younger generation. \u201cWe make sure it has the feel of the classic mento,\u201d Virgo says, which means combining elements of African music, merengue, salsa and calypso, played on acoustic instruments.<\/p>\n

The first song tracked was Winehouse\u2019s \u201cRehab.\u201d \u201cWe looked for a song that had a retro feel that could work,\u201d Baker says. \u201cWe did \u2018Rehab,\u2019 and it was a no-brainer. After Albert learned the lyrics, he just went in there and nailed it.\u201d Though Minott wasn\u2019t initially familiar with some of the songs, you\u2019d never know it from the finished product. \u201cI try to do them to the best of my ability, to make them stronger, sweeter,\u201d says Minott, who declares that he is ready for whatever attention the new album may bring. \u201cWhat is to come, let it come, and if it is to come, let it come big. I\u2019m going to stick with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Eric R. Danton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE JOLLY BOYS Melding a unique traditional folk style with unexpected new elements Trends come and go, but the\u00a0Jolly Boys have been playing mento music\u2014a Jamaican folk style that was a major influence on reggae and ska\u2014for nearly 60 years. The veteran band extends and expands that tradition on Great Expectation, a new collection that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2442,2444,2443,2445,1636,10156,2441],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3559,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions\/3559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}